Tag Archives: high park
Where are Toronto’s prime real estate pockets?
Carolyn Ireland – The Globe and Mail
Toronto’s capricious spring real estate market has lots of people feeling perplexed.
Sales have been tumbling for months in a row but prices have held on or continued to climb.
Comment: We all know by now that sales have fallen 10-15% every month since the new mortgage rules came into play. Once we hit July and are comparing months with the same rules, suddenly sales will stop falling – or even rise. And this whole discussion will vanish. Prices have not just held on, they have risen 4-8% month after month, even with fewer sales.
Some houses draw 11 bids; others see their offer dates come and go.
Comment: More because the demand has dropped and too many people think too highly of their houses and expect to get bidding wars that do not materialize. People will only fight for something worth fighting for. It is not a comment on the market as a whole, just on some sellers and their agents.
Buyers question whether prices are finally on the verge of a decline, and they only have to look as far as Vancouver to see people who bought last year only to see their new house slide in value in 2013.
Comment: Seriously? Vancouver has NOTHING to do with Toronto, and their values have been dropping for years. People have called for Toronto prices to fall for a decade now – not going to happen. Prices will continue to rise as demand outstrips supply. With a constant flow of people moving to Toronto, they need somewhere to live. Investors will still buy condos when the vacancy rate is under 1% and there are multiple offers on rentals. Houses still get bidding wars. Every couple that buys a new condo will likely want a house for their family in the future. Mortgage rates will continue to stay low for the next few years. Where is the downward pressure coming from? Nowhere…
Move-up buyers don’t have it any easier: They may buy a grand new property and get caught in the uncomfortable squeeze of not being able to sell their current house or condo.
Comment: Not if they have anything decent and are realistic about their price.
So for people who want to buy or trade up now, one strategy that makes sense is to put a greater emphasis than ever on finding a stellar neighbourhood. These pockets tend to hold up better in a market slump and are likely to rise higher still if prices resume their climb.
Golden neighbourhoods have attributes that make them great places to live, regardless of what the market is doing.
Comment: Really? Not like real estate agents have been preaching “location, location, location” since, like, forever.
Their solid schools, good housing stock, desirable shopping and proximity to a pleasant park or a stretch of shoreline will make them comfortable places to ride out any potential downturn.
Republic of Rathnelly
A few choice streets make up the Republic of Rathnelly, which is a cossetted pocket west of Avenue Road and north of Dupont.
The rolling and curvy streets of Rathnelly Avenue, Poplar Plains Crescent, Cottingham Street and McMaster Avenue make up the counter-culture republic, which was founded on July 1, 1967. On a lark, a band of residents declared independence from the rest of Canada after helping to successfully stave off the Spadina Expressway. They still mark the anniversary with a street party.
These days, more earnest parents are eager to pack their kids off to Brown Junior Public School, which offers English and French immersion classes, and has a reputation for academic excellence. It’s also a platinum-certifited eco school that promotes “anything but car” days and litterless lunches.
The houses are mostly solid, but unpretentious, detached and semi-detached brick dwellings from the Victorian era.
Even the climate is rarified in parts of the republic: Houses built part way up the escarpment formed by the shoreline of the ancient Lake Iroquois have reverse ravine lots which benefit from a slightly warmer micro-climate that allows flowers to bloom a little bit earlier than they do in surrounding gardens.
Comment: Sure, but this is one of the most expensive and exclusive neighbourhoods in Toronto. Average prices are multi-million and listings are very rare. Kind of an odd one to suggest… This is above the pay grade of most people, and likely all first-time buyers.
Lansing
This little corner of the city is still quite bucolic considering how quickly one can hop onto Highway 401 from here.
The area is just above the highway, with Yonge Street to the east, Bathurst to the west, and Burnett Avenue running along the northern boundary. The Don River Valley cuts through the area and separates it from the well-known Earl Bales Park, where legions of kids have taken to the bunny hill for their first run on skis.
There’s still an abundance of greenery, despite the fact that many small bungalows have been torned down and replaced with newly built dwellings with main floor family rooms and cathedral ceilings. Some of the houses even have ravine lots.
Residents can walk to bustling Yonge and Sheppard to eat, shop and yawp at the construction of fast-rising condo towers.
Schools include the private Little Owl Preschool Elementary, University Preparatory Academy, Don Valley Preparatory Academy, the Toronto Cheder and Cameron Public School.
Comment: My sister-in-law’s family lives here, nice spot!
Dufferin Grove
Dufferin Grove Park and the nearby Dufferin Mall had a pretty nefarious reputation in decades past but they’ve long since undergone remarkable transformations. But even while the park was the site of sketchy activity and the mall was rather tattered, the imposing Victorian and Edwardian houses to the east tended to attract upstanding urbanites who liked the lovely, leafy streets and the proximity to College Street.
For years the solid housing stock drew writers and university professors who could afford property values that lagged behind those of the Annex and High Park. Today, hordes of young families are attracted by more moderate prices around the $600,000 mark.
It’s still a great investment, it’s a very good neighbourhood. Meanwhile, the hippest boutiques, galleries and cafes of have migrated farther west and now sit just a short stroll away. Those sections of Bloor, College and Dundas are gentrifying and changing so much.
Comment: No news here, this stretch has been getting more and more popular for years now. Ever since residents took the park back for families, with farmers’ markets and more. Check out dufferinpark.ca for more.
The sweet spot of Leslieville
For people who crave French brioche, vintage coffee tables and the softly poached eggs of free-run chickens on Sundays, Leslieville is neighbourhood gold and the intersection of Queen and Carlaw is at the centre.
Streets running north and east of the intersection of Queen and Carlaw are considered the most desirable. Avenues such as Boston, Brooklyn, Bertmount and Coady provide quick access to a stool at the window of Te Aro Coffee Roasters. Parents can stop in after the daily run to Morse Street Junior Public School.
Comment: I have been preaching the gospel of Carlaw Avenue for years now, I love the east end. I grew up on Broadview, so this is my home turf.
Allenby Junior Public School is a big draw here. According to the Toronto District School Board, the documented history of this slice of Toronto dates back to the 1400s when a tribe of Huron Iroquois settled in a longhouse village. The school is popular for its French Immersion program for kids in Grades 3 through 6.
If you stand on the northwest corner of Avenue Road and Eglinton, then venture into the mannerly blocks north and west, you’re in Allenby, where families vie to buy Tudor-style houses on such streets as Briar Hill Avenue, Roselawn Avenue, Willowbank Avenue and Castle Knock Road.
Many of the houses have been enlarged but the neighbourhood retains a traditional feel.
The shopping strip along Eglinton West is packed with upscale boutiques.
Comment: Another very high end location, between Wanless Park and Lawrence Park. You best be ready to spend a million or more to get into this neighbourhood.
Fallingbrook
Sitting atop the Scarborough Bluffs, Fallingbrook is a niche within the neighbourhood of Birch Cliff, which is in turn a pocket within Scarborough. This area is replete with curving streets named Fallingbrook: If you’re invited to dinner there, either rely on the GPS or leave extra time to distinguish between Fallingbrook Road, Drive, Woods and Crescent.
Fallingbrook Road runs just west of the rolling golf greens of the Toronto Hunt Club and south of Kingston Road.
The houses lining the promontory above Lake Ontario range from gracious 100-year-old mansions to renovated mid-century dwellings and newly built architectural wonders. Houses on streets such as Courcelette, Blantyre and any of the Fallingbrooks are highly sought-after.
In many ways, the neighbourhood seems like an extension of The Beaches, just the other side of Victoria Park. Residents of this area have quick access to Queen Street East shopping but fewer day-trippers to contend with on the weekends.
Comment: Staying north of Kingston Road here cuts your price almost in half. And there are still bargains to be had on Courcelette or Blantyre, even south of Kingston. I still kick myself over a semi I was literally a couple hours too late on… could have bought it on Blantyre for $380k – worth a couple hundred grand more now. Always one that got away…
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416-388-1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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West Toronto Junction
West Toronto Junction has managed to retain its original small town charm and appeal despite it’s prime location in Toronto’s bustling west end. Ironically the same railway tracks that skirt this neighbourhood and were responsible for it growth have seemingly also had the dual impact of sheltering the West Toronto Junction from the widespread gentrification that has taken place in many Toronto neighbourhoods. It is a little bit off the beat and path but well worth discovering.
Billed by many as the next West Queen West, The Junction is already attracting artists and entrepreneurs for its cheaper rents and converted industrial and warehouse spaces. A raw food restaurant and organic grocer are two recent additions to the Dundas West strip, joining established residents like Vesuvio (touted by fans as the best pizza in the city). The neighbourhood is also turning into something of a furniture and design destination, sporting three great shops in Post + Beam Reclamation, Forever Interiors and Smash.
Travel a few blocks east and you enter the Junction Triangle, often taken as a separate neighbourhood, squeezed in between the Junction, Roncevalles and Bloordale Village (in the literal triangle of rail lines bounded roughly by Dundas, Landsdowne and Dupont). In 2009, a contest was run to come up with a new name for the area, both to distinguish it from the Junction proper, as well as to reflect its historical ties to the railroad.
West Junction Real Estate Map
So named for its location among four rail lines built in the late 1800s, The Junction has shed its reputation as a ’hood from the wrong side of the tracks. Thanks to cheaper rents and real estate values, it’s home to burgeoning numbers of families and transplanted downtowners who have been priced out of the core.
Close to High Park and Bloor West Village, The Junction offers the same easy access to transit and reliably good schools and its late 19th and early 20th century homes are more affordable than its sister neighbourhoods (though the gap is shrinking).
West Toronto Junction is still affordable and appeals to a wide demographic from young families, to artists to urban professionals. This is as true a neighbourhood as you are likely to find in Toronto. It has a strong sense of pride and history, a beautiful main street shopping district on Dundas Street West, cherished local schools, parks and library, and a diverse population that runs the gamut from gentrification to an edgy urban grittiness.
The commercial strip was beleaguered by empty storefronts in the early aughts, but Dundas has seen a boom in new businesses (if there’s any doubt as to which direction the district is heading, a Starbucks recently opened in the area). The northern corner is seeing the development of big-box stores on the site of the former stockyards at St. Clair Avenue and Weston Road, but the neighbourhood still retains a small-village feel. West of Keele and Dundas, the streetscape is teeming with new restaurants, independent shops and a conglomeration of stores specializing in vintage interiors.
Dundas Street West in the Junction
West Toronto Junction has some of the finest architecture in Toronto. The winding tree-lined streets north of Annette Street feature rich red brick Victorian houses on generous size lots that boast decorative features such as roof top turrets, whimsical front porches and glamorous archways. There are some fine examples of Queen Anne and Arts and Crafts style house in this part of the neighbourhood.
Closer to Dundas Street the houses are Victorian in style but much smaller and much less descriptive. The lots at the north-end of the neighbourhood are also narrower. You will find a that a fair number of the larger houses particularly on the main streets have apartments with two or more units which help pay for the upkeep and property taxes.
West Toronto Junction began as a railway town in the 1870s. A convergence of railway lines operated nearby and opened stations and railyards, attracting manufacturers and their employers to the area. Many of the houses closest to Dundas Street housed the labourers and their families that first settled here. Excessive drinking and rowdiness led to a prohibition on alcohol being sold on Dundas Street West that lasted until 2000.
West Toronto Junction Real Estate
In 1882 an ambitious young lawyer named D.W Clendenan in partnership with his uncle D. J. Laws purchased the Carlton Race Course property (the first running of the Queens Plate was held there in 1860owned by the Keele family. They then registered the West Toronto Junction plan of subdivision. By 1884 lots were being sold with ads in newspapers beckoning buyers to West Toronto Junction where they would enjoy commanding views of Lake Ontario and High Park. There were 5 miles of streets paved and over 1500 shade trees planted.
By 1888 West Toronto Junction had enough residents to incorporate as a Village and by 1891 a Town with a population of 5,000. Churches, libraries and schools would soon follow. Throughout it’s early history the West Toronto Junction experienced boom and busts cycles. In 1909 the increased demand for more utilities and better roads led the ratepayers to vote in favour of annexation with the City of Toronto.
Once a gritty railroad town, it was annexed by the City of Toronto in 1909 and remained under the real estate radar for nine decades as a place with “a fierce, independent spirit,” says Mr. Wencer. Since the late 1990s, however, the secret’s been out as artists looking for cheap studio space and bargain-hunting hipster couples discover its rough charm.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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Swansea
Nestled quietly in south west Toronto rests the former municipality of Swansea. Almost a secret community, neighboring Bloor West Village and abutting High Park, Swansea remains unknown to most of Toronto.
Swansea is a compact and unique Toronto neighbourhood bounded by Lake Ontario to the south, the Humber River to the west and Grenadier Pond on the east. The area itself features distinctive rolling hills, many mature trees and scenic winding roads.
Named for prominent settler James Worthington who was said to come from Swansea, Wales, the lovely west Toronto neighbourhood of Swansea Village joined Forest Hill Village in 1967 as one of the last two independent villages to be annexed by the City of Toronto.
Swansea Real Estate Map
Its corporate seal still remains as a tribute to the neighbourhood’s colourful history: The hills in the seal represent Swansea’s rolling countryside, the water refers to Swansea’s natural boundaries, which include Lake Ontario, the Humber River and Grenadier Pond. Also included on the Swansea seal is explorer Etienne Brule, who in 1615 became the first European to set foot on what is now Swansea, and a First Nations member, in recognition of the fact that First Nations members were the first people to inhabit Swansea.
Swansea’s hilly terrain, winding roads and many mature trees accentuate the storybook houses that line the residential streets of this neighbourhood. Its high end homes are located either at the western edge of High Park overlooking Grenadier Pond, or at the Brule Gardens enclave found in the north-west pocket of Swansea. The most common type of housing by far is detached, though there are also semi-detached houses and bungalows and low-rise apartment buildings located mostly in the centre of the neighbourhood.
Original Swansea homes were built between 1905 and 1935 and offer the charms and solid details of that era. Mostly consisting of smaller bungalows (some of which have been converted to a large modern 2 storey design), as well as compact semi-detached and 3 bdrm detached homes. There are even modern townhomes located on Budgell Terrace and several newly built towns at Windermere and Queensway. Swansea’s original larger homes are located at the western edge of High Park (adjacent or with views of Grenadier Pond), and as well along Riverside Drive and Brule Gardens (some with views of the Humber river)to the west.
Swansea Real Estate
This primarily residential area consists of a complimentary, eclectic mix of home types. High end homes are generally located within the Brule Gardens and Riverside Drive enclaves bordering the Humber River and along the western edge of High Park overlooking Grenadier Pond.
The greatest percentage of homes within Swansea are mature, single family dwellings typically built before 1940 and reflecting pride of community. The age of the homes dates back to the 20′s and 30′s, remaining smaller homes boast period details unique to the period namely leaded glass windows, extensive woodwork and hand-crafted plaster crown moulding. Most homes fall under the category of detached or semi-detached homes that have either mutual or private drives in addition to street parking. In recent years, some residents have done an impressive job of expanding their homes vertically. No, these are not McMansions, they are at least in-keeping with the general architecture of the neighbourhood.
In the last 5–7 years, the southern portion of Swansea – namely at the base of Windermere at the Queensway – has undergone a major turn-around. The former brownfield was home to the Stelco site. It was decomissioned and later developed into a series of townhomes and condos that flank either side of Windermere. I must say that upon first glance many moons ago I did not think that much would come of this unglamorous spot. Boy, was I wrong. These places show quite well. These places are now known as Windermere by the Lake at 93 The Queensway and 15 Windermere Avenue as well as the larger townhomes on the opposite side of Winderemere that have the Next condo in it’s backyard.
Homes in the Swansea Neighbourhood
The southern border of the area offers a selection of mostly high rise condominiums- built between 1973 and present day. The older condominiums developed in 1973 (45, 60, 65 Southport St & 35 Ormskirk Ave) are a great value for space and location! Some offer bi-level suites, that give you the feeling of living in a townhome. South Kingsway Village and SouthHampton (both built by Tridel in 1988 and 1994 respectively) offer a variety of spacious suites & wonderful amenities. As a result of this diverse selection, you will be sure to find the right style of suite and building lifestyle whether you are a senior, newly retired, single or family oriented.
Swansea Village is the only Toronto neighbourhood that has its own community run Town Hall at 95 Lavinia Avenue, a vibrant meeting place home to such events as antique shows, craft sales, meetings of various local societies and a wide variety of classes and lessons for all ages. The Swansea Town Hall and Community Centre also includes a small gymnasium, and is the home of the Swansea Memorial Public Library, the smallest branch of the Toronto Public Library system. This branch specializes in material for children and seniors and provides complete inter-library loan services.
The area is in walking distance of Bloor West Village and it’s shops as well as two subway stations, Jane and Runnymede. Being on the subway line still holds it’s value. A bus route along Windermere as well as Morningside Avenue make their way to the above subway stations on the Bloor-Danforth line. If you’re a driver, you’re in luck as Swansea lies at an ideal equidistant point to all that is important, be it the Gardner expressway eastbound or westbound via the Queensway and Parklawn. This is all accessible going southbound either on Windermere Avenue or the South Kingsway.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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Incoming search terms
